SADA. ARTES 20 Feasibility Study. Space Assets for Demining Assistance

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1 ARTES 20 Feasibility Study SADA Space Assets for Demining Assistance Populations emerging from armed conflicts often remain threatened by landmines, unexploded cluster munition and other Explosive Remnants of War. The international Mine Action community is concerned with the relief of this threat. The Space Assets for Demining Assistance (SADA) undertaking is a set of projects that aims at developing new services to improve the socio-economic impact of mine action activities, primarily focused on the improved release of land thought to be contaminated, a process described as Land Release. This can be achieved by better prioritization of affected areas, more targeted allocation of resources, better identification of unaffected land ( reduction ), more efficient field operations and better reporting. Who needs what? Mine Action is coordinated by National Mine Action Authorities and National Mine Action Centers, often supported by UN bodies such as UNMAS or UNDP. They need socio-economic impact mapping for prioritization purposes, and supporting information to determine which locales are likely to be affected, and, even more importantly, which are not. Representatives from 17 Mine Action Centers have participated in SADA needs definition. Suspected areas are surveyed and cleared by demining operators (typically NGO s or commercial). Operators need detailed maps, more reliable and low-cost navigation and efficient reporting tools. Involved in SADA are FSD, MAG and MineTech. SADA is supported by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Challenge Demining is labour intensive, risky and requires a conservative approach. Mine detection and clearance is still (and will continue to be) performed largely by traditional methods: by hand with metal detectors and prodders. Dogs and tiller machines can be used only in some cases, to improve confidence that land has been properly cleared. It is important to reduce as much as possible the amount of land that requires clearing, yet any method proposed for this must have near-absolute and proven reliability. Field equipment must be low-cost, intuitive and robust. Innovations must be easily deployable and generate immediate improvements. European Space Agency

2 ARTES 20 Feasibility Study 1 : Infoterra UK consortium SADA Space Assets for Demining Assistance Within the framework of the European Space Agency s ARTES 20 program the consortium consisting of Astrium, BAE Systems, and Cranfield University has been studying the assistance that space assets can provide to the mine action sector. The consortium has designed and validated two services to meet identified user requirements: a Decision Support Service for mine action organisations and national authorities, and a Field Support Service for use by technical survey and clearance teams. Field Support Service The Field Support Service consists of a range of capabilities to enable the effective use of satellite imagery to support field based mine action activities, the accurate recording of position information and enhanced navigation and communication capabilities, making use of differential GPS and satellite communications equipment. Availability Both the Decision Support Service and configurations of the Field Support Service are currently available for use by mine action organisations and national authorities. Contact Details For more information, please contact the consortium by at: Dave.Halbert@infoterra-global.com or visit the consortium webpage at: -for-demining-infoterra European Space Agency

3 Decision Support Service The Decision Support Service consists of the provision of a range of information products proven to assist with decision making on land release and cancellation, mine action resource selection, planning and prioritisation. The information products are based on the highest resolution satellite imagery commercially available and provide accurate decision support information relevant to mine action including detail on: land use; indicators of the presence or absence of contamination; evidence of conflict; access considerations; factors that impact on the use of mine action resources; as well as topography including slope analysis. The Decision Support Service has been validated and trailed in coordination with the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) and its design is based on user needs and requirements identified from a wide range of organisations and national mine action programmes including the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), MineTech International, and the Sudan Mine Action Programme. Example information product which fuses mine action information with very high resolution satellite imagery highlighting features relevant for decision making on land release. Information products are provided either as stand alone documents to inform decision making, or electronically for inclusion and analysis within IMSMA or other existing mine action information systems. Example information product identifying land in use based on Coherent Change Detection (CCD) which enables activities that disturb the ground to be detected. In this example, areas that have been disturbed are clearly identified using dark colours in the third image, based on comparison of the two sets of gathered sensor information in the first two images.

4 ARTES 20 - Space Assets for Demining Assistance Feasibility Study 2 : Radiolabs consortium (SAFEDEM) SAFEDEM is one of the three consortia joining the ESA-SADA initiative. The key points of SAFEDEM are: to offer a set of innovative services in a coherent framework, in order to help Mine Action practitioners in their activities; to bring satellite technologies in the Mine Action context, where up to now they are only partially exploited; to deliver to the Mine Action users some well-established data processing techniques and Decision Support strategies coming from the research world; to offer the UAV technologies for highresolution data acquisition. SAFEDEM answers to specific user needs and requirements providing a Service Portfolio of seven System & Service Concepts (SSCs). The SSCs are independent and complementary: the Mine Action users can take advantage of a subset of them, chosen according to their specific needs, but they will take out the most from the SAFEDEM solution when using the SSCs altogether. SAFEDEM System and Service Concepts (SSCs) : SSC1 SSC2 SSC3 SSC4 SSC5 SSC6 SSC7 SatImage MiniUAS T-maps MA-maps GeoBI FieldKit GeoPortal-SDI SatImage, MiniUAS, T-maps and MA-maps are all related to the provision of images and maps. The Mine Action users will contact the SAFEDEM Service Provider whenever they will need satellite imagery for large areas or very high resolution images for smaller areas the last ones being acquired on demand by means of a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or even thematic maps, chosen in a wide catalogue and going up to risk maps that the SAFEDEM Service will produce, also exploiting the data provided by the same users. GeoBI will bring the power of a Decision Support System into the Mine Action arena, allowing the users to improve communication with donors about the achieved results and to obtain help in the planning and prioritization phase as well. FieldKit will equip the Mine Action operator with a handy tool that will ease data collection as well as data access when in the field. GeoPortal-SDI will enable the Mine Action Community to collaborative manage, analyze, and exploit geo-data. It is based on Web GIS and Web 2.0 and follows an evolved approach of SDI.

5 SSC1 SatImage Provision for historical and updated satellite images, ready to use. Value: provide an easy, Mine Action oriented, one-stop-shop to search and retrieve updated and historical Earth Observation satellite images. Value: offer a continuously updated Mine Action oriented assessment of available Earth Observation products. SSC2 MiniUAS Mini-Unmanned Aerial System for acquiring high-resolution imagery over suspected environments. Value: provide an on-demand service to perform Very High Resolution image acquisition for Mine Action oriented small area surveys. Value: define an acquisition tailored to the real needs of the users, with respect to resolution, type of sensor, scheduling of operations, etc. SSC3 T-maps General purpose land use and background maps for planning and decision. Value: provide an easy, Mine Action oriented, one-stop-shop to request and obtain updated thematic maps, like land coverage or soil classification. Value: offer a continuously updated Mine Action oriented assessment of available thematic maps products. SSC4 MA-maps Land use change and risk maps for supporting Land Release activities. Value: provide a service for the production of specific Mine Action oriented thematic maps to support the Land Release process, from minefield indicators up to risk maps. Value: bring the Risk Management tools into the Mine Action planning activities aiming to reduce costs of general and non-technical surveys. SSC5 GeoBI Geo-BI Decision Support extension for IMSMA and other Mine Action databases. Value: extend IMSMA with enhanced capabilities of information exploitation and Decision Support to Mine Action activities. Value: provide an on-line web access to easy and self-service reporting, querying, analysis, and dashboards with Mine Action Key Performance Indicators (KPI). SSC6 FieldKit Android-based device with applications for Mine Action field operations. Value: equip operators with an easy to use tool to access geo-information in the field, even when they are offline. Value: improve the quality of data from the beginning, collecting them in a paper-free way that avoids multiple error-prone transcriptions. SSC7 GeoPortal-SDI Cooperative production and exploitation of geo-data. Value: provide an infrastructure for distributed sharing of geo-data and online collaborative creation of thematic maps. Value: provide an easy geoportal to access and exploit geo-data even in mobility, both in online and offline mode.

6 ARTES 20 Feasibility Study 3 : INSA consortium SADA Space Assets for Demining Assistance INSA leads a consortium in which also two companies participate, Expal and Hispasat. Jointly they have designed an integrated system and undertaken a proof of concept. The consortium combines expertise in remote sensing products provision and operational systems development, satellite communications provision and land release expertise in Mine Action. Services proposed GMAA - for this stage of the land release process, a complete service providing strategic information for planning and prioritization of mine action activities is defined, including socioeconomic impact information and cartography support. Non Technical Survey - two services are provided that deliver supporting data about the evidence of mine/erw presence and absence in a specific region or area. The first service focuses on identification/refinement of confrontation lines by forest edges and ridges and the second one focuses on identification of changes in the environment. Technical Survey - This service describes and classifies in detail the vegetation and the soil type presented in a specific region or area. Additionally an affordable DGNSS (Differential Global Navigation Satellite System) solution can be integrated for achieving high positional accuracy in the field. The objective reporting of postclearance benefits is supported by (semi-)automated processes. Product Examples : Post-Clearance report The report provides an overview of recognizable benefit and socio economic effects of invested donations. Examples are the provision of the visible outline of reconstructed buildings, schools and agricultural land that came in use since the land was released change detection map for Brcko (Bosnia and Herzegovina) test-site European Space Agency

7 Indicators of Mine Presence Identification of (refined) confrontation zones from a combination of analytical as-sessment, detection of forest edges, agricultural areas that are no longer in use and damaged or destroyed infrastructures. The analysis is based on satellite images (taken immediately after the conflict) integrated with the Mine Action Center s database information. Forest edges (green lines) and ridges (brown lines) obtained vs. confrontation lines (red lines) and minefields (yellow points) provided by BHMAC. Location: Doboj Socioeconomic Impact Product Test-site of Shakar Dara, Afghanistan (hazard polygons provided by MACCA and priority areas classified by INSA). Supports the prioritization of Suspected Hazard Areas (SHA) taking into account the combination of several indicators. The socioeconomic analysis is based on the following indicators: Land use assessment Contaminated land productivity estimation (according to the availability of reference data) Infrastructures Presence of hospitals, villages, rivers, roads, etc. Project details INSA Project Manager: Fernando Valcarce. fvalcarce@insa.org For more information on the SADA activities please contact: Michiel Kruijff (ESA) michiel.kruijff@esa.int Daniel Eriksson (GICHD) d.eriksson@gichd.org The project is further described on

8 SADA solution Three independent consortia have set out to design and validate a solution based on better integration and better use of existing space assets with established technologies and methods in Mine Action. Two key sets of services have been defined. The Decision Support Service combines georeferenced mine survey data, topographical, demographical data, Earth Observation imagery (historical and recent) and hiresolution imagery from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to generate impact, risk and situation maps. The Field Support service integrates navigation, maps and reporting tools. A Business Intelligence solution integrated with the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) allows to make optimal and systematic use of the collected data. Outcome Key features of the SADA approach have been validated with data from National Mine Action Centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Afghanistan. Other users such as Tajikistan (TMAC), Cambodia (CMAC) and operators (MAG, MineTech and FSD) have confirmed the outcome. More objective risk mapping and prioritization at national/regional level is now possible. Field operations can be more safe and more efficient with better maps. More integrated data entry and data analysis allows for better reporting and, on the long term, continued improvement of operational methodology. Project details The implementing consortia are led resp. by Infoterra (UK), Radiolabs (I) and INSA (E). For more information please contact: Michiel Kruijff (ESA) michiel.kruijff@esa.int Daniel Eriksson (GICHD) d.eriksson@gichd.org The project is further described on Collaborating with ESA The Integrated Application Promotion (IAP, or ARTES 20) programme funds feasibility studies and demonstrations. It aims at generating sustainable services which meet the needs of public and private organisations. SADA is just one example of IAP applications. Do you think that space technologies and services such as space imagery, satellite navigation, satellite communication, manned space technologies might help you better address your operational challenges? ESA s IAP programme can make it happen. For further details please contact us at iap@esa.int Website: Printed in March 2012